Masturbation happens in every culture, across every period of history, and it's the way most adolescents discover what they enjoy before embarking on adult sexual relationships. However, if it's becoming an obsession that inhibits other aspects of your life, or you belong to a religion or philosophy that forbids masturbation, then it's possible to curb the impulse, gather your self-discipline, and take control of your urges.
Find another outlet for your time and energy. Fill
your life with engaging activities. The excitement of doing something
different can help replace the urge to masturbate, and you'll have a
go-to distraction next time you're tempted. Try some of these options:
- Be creative. The process of turning sexual urges into creative output (called sublimation) is something on which monks and sages have relied upon for centuries. Start writing, learn to play a musical instrument, paint, draw, or do whatever else makes you feel like you're doing something productive.
- Play sports. It takes discipline and persistence to excel at a sport. Develop an interest like running or swimming, or a group sport like soccer, football, basketball, or tennis. Also, any form of exercise will help you relieve tension, feel happier, and to make you focus on your physicality in a positive way. Yoga is another form of exercise that can help you feel more relaxed and less likely to feel the sudden urge to masturbate.
- Eat a healthy diet. Fruits and vegetables have healthy effects on the body and provide nutrients necessary to increase your energy to make you more active throughout the day.
- Find a new hobby, or cultivate a skill. Learning something that takes a while to master can refocus your brain on the delayed gratification of achieving goals instead of the instant gratification of masturbation. Try skills like cooking, woodshop, archery, baking, public speaking, or gardening.
- Volunteer your time. Devote your energy to helping teens who've been less fortunate than you, such as working at a shelter, tutoring low-income students, cleaning up blighted areas, or raising money for a good cause. You'll get an altruistic feeling from helping others, and you'll have less time to stray from your goals.
- Make a plan for avoiding masturbation during your "go to" times of day. If you have problems before going to bed or in the shower, refrain from any temptation to masturbate. For instance, if it's a problem late at night, drop to the floor and do push-ups until you're too exhausted to do anything but fall asleep. If you find shower time too tempting, start using ice cold water only — you won't want to be in there for long.
- If you always masturbate when you get home from school, make sure to have a solid plan to stave off any boredom you may feel. If you have so little to do that your mind frequently wanders to sexual thoughts, occupy your schedule. You'll find it gets easier to avoid masturbation if you're too busy or tired to spare any energy for distractions.
- If you're tempted to masturbate in the morning, try to sleep with more than just one layer of clothing so touching yourself is more of an effort.
